The Ancient Road of Reincarnation, the vast Underworld—
all of it could be sacrificed.
Anyway, the Unknown Place had been hammered flat, and this entire region now belonged to him.
Chu Xuanfeng suddenly came to his senses.
He turned to his believers and said, "Some of you, follow me into the Great Underworld. Grandma's… I got upstaged by a Westerner today!"
"My lord, are we really going to the Underworld?"
"Of course we're going to look for sacrifices. Otherwise, you want to stroll into the God Realm? Hah… keep dreaming. Any believer who wants to enter the God Realm must first pass my test!"
The believers looked at each other.
Alas… the situation was stronger than men.
Who was the chief priest?
Their lifeline was in someone else's hands now—his word was law.
Monks in the sunlit world who wanted to go to the God Realm
had to pass through the portal to reach the Eternal Earth of the gods.
But that portal was controlled by Chu Xuanfeng.
If he said no,
none of the multitude would step into the God Realm.
At that moment, a cosmic-level powerhouse approached Chu Xuanfeng and said, "Master Priest, in fact, there's no need to rush."
"Oh?"
"Think about it. The forces in the Underworld have been emptied out. Let's first sweep the Great Underworld clean, then sacrifice both worlds together. Wouldn't that be perfect?"
"Mm… that's true."
Calmed down, Chu Xuanfeng realized the man had a point.
Sacrificing the Milky Way was one thing; if he sacrificed the entire sunlit world plus the Underworld,
let's see whose ruthlessness would win the day.
"However, we can't just stand idle without preparation. We still need people to enter the Underworld, seek treasures, and establish faith."
There were beings in the Great Underworld.
Not a few.
The natives were no different from those of the Little Underworld before—
there were plenty of creatures.
He would have to involve himself.
In the end, Chu Xuanfeng chose to have the Immortal Clan manage things on his behalf while he went into the Great Underworld himself to establish anchor points.
Spread outward from the points to the surface—
that would be truly comprehensive.
There was a gate into the Underworld, but it was bound with countless seals and set at the center of a continent.
On its far side a bronze coffin lay sealed off,
leaving only a narrow gap.
Three days later,
Chu Xuanfeng arrived, tore the gate open with a wave, and marched into the Underworld with an army of a million.
The instant he stepped across, an infinite surge of yin-sha hit him in the face.
"Master Priest, it seems this bronze coffin was deliberately left here."
"Hmph. Of course it was."
Three worlds, three coffins—so the legends said.
Chu Xuanfeng's mind flashed over the tales people told of heaven and earth.
This bronze coffin was likely one of the three.
It had been deliberately left here.
The material was excellent.
Even a man as well-informed as he couldn't help but admire it.
If one hid within the bronze coffin,
one could not only ward off evil miasma, but greatly resist the erosion of time.
Clearly, whoever made this coffin had put in no small effort.
"Master Priest, this bronze coffin—?"
"Mm, treat it as a sacrifice. It's a treasure. Carry it to the sun."
"Yes!"
In the Underworld,
there was a sun as well.
But it was black.
No clouds crossed the sky.
Souls drifted everywhere,
but these wandering ghosts had no consciousness at all, like catkins on the wind—
fragile and everywhere.
In years past, when Samsara Hunters appeared under this black sun,
people had fled from them.
But ever since the goddess descended to the world, crushed the Unknown Place, and smashed the heavens,
none had seen that skeletal host.
Even the fog of reincarnation had failed to appear.
Men in the troop murmured, trading speculation.
They quieted when the cosmic-level powerhouse among them snorted and said, "What's the difference between the Underworld and the sunlit world? Before the God, all is nothingness. Those who refuse the God will disperse."
The rest traded glances.
Good grief.
That man was intense.
At every turn: "Believe or be dust."
But it was no wonder his heart burned so hotly. Back then he'd turned into a monster and suffered a life worse than death.
The Law of God had saved him.
Now his strength neared the taboo level.
Of course he was loyal.
As for two-faced schemers—the Eternal Executors of the church had culled plenty already.
Not long after they set out, they reached a vast river.
They couldn't see the far shore.
From the gray-white current, they could feel the breath of souls.
"This is the River of Souls? I can sense countless souls flowing within…"
"It must be. Let's cross."
They rose into the air and flew toward the other bank.
Halfway across,
a bone spear hissed up from the fog below.
"Who dares attack us!"
A great cosmic-level cultivator bellowed.
His voice tore the pallid mist aside, revealing a cluster of skeleton soldiers seated in an ancient boat, glaring up at them.
Blue soul-flames flickered in their eye sockets,
leaping incessantly.
Chu Xuanfeng extended a hand and plucked one skeleton soldier upward.
A surge of mental power
invaded the skeleton's mind.
"Huh… looks like our actions in the sunlit world have reached these wretches. They're preparing to strike back."
"Huh? Master, did I hear that right?"
"Yeah, why would they strike back?"
A gaggle of Underworld creatures rushing into the sunlit world—
wasn't that laughable?
Chu Xuanfeng shook his head with a smile. "There are strong ones in the Underworld as well, and their strength was no weaker than yours once was."
The men laughed.
That was then. This was now.
Following the skeleton soldier's memories, they soon reached the first great city.
Looking down on hundreds of millions of beings,
Chu Xuanfeng unleashed a shocking aura.
"Listen up, ghosts below. We are envoys of the Eternal God, here to proclaim the will of God. Any who disobey—your souls will scatter!"
His voice cracked like thunder,
sweeping through the city in an instant, then rolling on through the entire province.
The yin-spirit powerhouses were stunned.
None had expected the people of the sunlit world to return so quickly.
They lifted their eyes.
Hundreds of suns stood overhead,
and one most terrifying figure stared down coldly at them.
A beat later,
the city's managers rose into the sky one after another.
They looked no different from ordinary folk.
Only the bitter chill of their aura set them apart from the God's believers.
"My lord, this is the Underworld. You—"
"So what if it's the Underworld? Wasn't this world created by God?"
Chu Xuanfeng cut the man off.
The fellow's face went very ugly. He opened his mouth, but no words came.
One sentence had blocked every retort.
Only one question remained.
Surrender or die.
In the span of three breaths, Chu Xuanfeng opened his palm, and a blinding fireball blossomed there, swelling and swelling,
until it reached a hundred meters across.
Sacred flame burned through yin-sha.
The heat was searing.
The cosmic-tier ghost closest by felt as if he might evaporate on the spot.
"No… Lord Envoy, please stay your hand! If you strike, our city will be destroyed—completely destroyed…"
His clan and kin were below.
If the fireball fell,
they would all be vaporized.
In the city, people stared at the fireball in terror.
They tried to flee, only to find a blazing barrier already sealed around the city.
There was no way out.
Seeing the envoy unmoved, the yin-spirit bit down and knelt.
"I, Gan Lun, am willing to surrender. I beg the God to spare us a path to life…"
The people in the city saw him,
and fell to their knees as well,
pleading that the terrifying envoys grant them a way to live.
Chu Xuanfeng sneered. "A pack of cheap bones. Without a little color shown, you think I'm kind?"
"No—never that…"
The yin-spirit powerhouse shook with fear, sweat pouring.
He babbled apologies,
humiliated to the core.
A dignified city manager, and here he was, begging for mercy just to survive.
He knelt.
But not everyone did.
Pride exacted its price.
When ten men rose up in fury,
Chu Xuanfeng smiled faintly, and the flame in his hand split into ten pillars of divine fire that speared straight through their bodies.
"Aaah—"
Their screams lanced the air.
The entire city trembled.
The flames burned the soul and didn't relent for even a moment.
The ten pillars of divine fire formed a cage that held them in place.
"This is the end awaiting those who challenge the Eternal Church. Don't think it ends with them—their families will be put to death as well!"
His cold voice
pronounced the doom of millions.
As Chu Xuanfeng's words fell,
countless people burst into flames.
The fire roared along the lines of the soul; anyone who shared blood with those ten men, or inherited their techniques,
was consumed.
Chu Xuanfeng was no curse god.
But he could hunt enemies without form.
Witnessing that terror,
the city lost all will to resist.
"Go down. Prepare to raise the altar."
"Yes, Lord Master."
Under Chu Xuanfeng's divine suppression,
the first base in the Great Underworld was complete.
And it made Chu Xuanfeng glad he had come himself—if the God learned he'd mishandled affairs,
that would have been bad.
…
In the Ten Thousand Worlds chat group—
Blond Boy Sam: "Hey… friends, anyone want a trip to my original world? I can take you in a spaceship~"
Spirit of the Demon Sword: "Save it. Everyone's busy."
Li Lao'er: "We all gained from this god-war—either training or gathering materials. Who has time to go sightseeing?"
Tanjirou: "My suggestion: pilot the Moon yourself and go smash that 'Cosmic Emperor' first. Your strength should be about the same now."
The Cosmic Emperor was the Transformers' super-villain—
and Sam's personal enemy.
If he wasn't eliminated, the Decepticons would keep being born.
Blond Boy Sam: "I want to, but I'm short-handed…"
A long-silent chime sounded in the group.
Ding… Alice has joined the Ten Thousand Worlds Chat Group.
Ding… Tie the Courage has joined the Ten Thousand Worlds Chat Group.